A flaw in some 64-bit operating systems and virtualization software programs are vulnerable to local privilege escalation attacks.

The problem only happens when running on Intel processors, the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) announced today. The hole, dubbed CVE-2012-0217, stems from the way Intel CPUs have implemented the SYSRET instruction in their x86-64 extension, known as Intel 64.

Crackers could exploit the vulnerability to force Intel CPUs to return a general protection fault in privileged mode. This would give them power to execute code with kernel privileges from a least-privileged account, or to escape from a virtual machine and gain control of the host operating system.

The vulnerability can only be exploited on Intel CPUs when the Intel 64 extension is in use. Some of the operating systems confirmed as vulnerable so far include x64-based versions of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, the 64-bit versions of FreeBSD and NetBSD, the Xen virtualisation software, as well as Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

Most of the world's internet piracy is carried out by 100 people, according to a surprising report from a Spanish university. Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M) examined the behaviour of the users who are responsible for publishing over 55,000 files on the Mininova and The Pirate Bay sites.

Professors Rubén Cuevas, Carmen Guerrero and Ángel Cuevas said that a small group of users of these applications (around one hundred) is responsible for 66 percent of the content that is published and 75 percent of the downloads. In other words: the great success of a massively used application like BitTorrent depends on a few users.

The study by the researchers at this public university in Madrid, in collaboration with scientists at the IMDEA Networks Institute, the University of Oregon (USA) and the Technical University of Darmstadt (Germany), identifies who these users are and what their incentives for massively publishing contents are. In one group there are the "fake publishers” which are organisations fighting illegal downloading and malicious users who publish a large quantity of false files in order to protect copyrights and spread infected software. Then there is the group includes a small number of users (known as "top publishers") who massively publish contents on BitTorrent and make a profit off of this activity.

They make their cash from on-line advertising and, to a lesser degree, from VIP subscriptions held by users who wish to speed up the downloading of the contents. "If these users lose interest in this activity or are eliminated from the system, BitTorrent’s traffic will be drastically reduced", the authors of the study predict.

File sharing site, BitTorrent has grown to over 100 million worldwide monthly users. The outfit makes two software products BitTorrent Mainline, and µTorrent.

In a move which might miff the record and film industry, BitTorrent reports more than 20 million daily active users downloading over 400,000 torrents on average. Of course it is a matter of debate how many of those files being shared are good wholesome business ones and how many are films and music, still it is an impressive figure.

BitTorrent is often used for distribution of very large files, very popular files and files available for free, since it’s generally cheaper, faster and more efficient to distribute files using BitTorrent than a regular download.

Eric Klinker, CEO at BitTorrent. “This milestone highlights the size of our user base and the power of our software.” The company has tried to legitimize itself by creating partnerships with content creators.

While nostalgia is still not what it used to be, it seems that the latest version of the Commodore 64 is exactly the way it was in the 1980s. The new Commodore 64x has used the beige wedge design of the old machine but runs an Intel Dual Core 525 Atom processor, 2GB of RAM, and an Nvidia Ion 2 graphics chipset.

OK it is not really a Commodore 64, it is a PC lamb dressed up in retro mutton but it is still pretty cool. It is also designed to run the original software, using either an emulator or a custom Workbench 5 operating system, both of which are included.

Amusingly the Atom D525 is a 64-bit processor so it is just the meaning of the 64 that has changed over the last 20 years. If it's paired with the nVidia ION chipset then should be able to manage 1920x1080p HD video so it is not a bad little machine.

Commodore is not telling us when, where or how much the beast will be. But if you want a journey down memory lane have a look here.